Friday, July 18, 2014

Why third parties in America are doomed to failure

Why is it impossible to start a serious third political
party in the U.S.? It’s been tried many times, but even billionaire Ross Perot
couldn’t sustain his efforts. To me, the answer is pretty straightforward: If
you have money, and you want influence, you need to back a winner. For many
large companies, it doesn’t even matter if the next president is a Republican
or Democrat, they give money to both candidates. Throwing away dollars on some
third party dark horse wouldn’t make good business sense. Add to this corporate
unfriendly progressive politics, and we have nowhere to go but down.

This brings me to a mantra I chant often; campaign finance
reform. Until there is serious campaign finance reform, starting with
overturning recent Supreme Court blunders, there will never be a serious third
party. And, of course, there is no upside for Republicans or Democrats to
encourage a more participatory democracy that could threaten their very elite
status.

The status quo assures that we on the left end of the
political spectrum are locked out of the political process. We can’t even get
on Sunday news shows. Right-wing crazies like Ted Cruz and Louie Gohmert and
Michelle Bachmann are given access and money because they are free enterprise
zombies who will jump into a volcano if the Koch’s tell them to.

A slight detour in this argument leads me to net neutrality.
As I mentioned, progressive voices are rarely heard in the mainstream media.
You can, however, find many liberal and progressive sites on the Internet, and
when they rally together, they can be politically potent. Companies salivating
to end net neutrality see dollar signs for sure, but they also see a way of
silencing pesky Netnick lefties and their stubbornly persistent world view that
unfettered capitalism shouldn’t be the golden calf we all worship.